In modern electrical installations, electronics have become indispensable. From frequency-controlled drives to LED lighting: everything communicates and switches. But all these devices affect each other. Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) is the area of expertise that ensures equipment can operate without interference. When EMC in an installation is not in order, inexplicable failures, damage to components and unwanted production stops occur.
For technical managers and engineers, EMC is not a theoretical concept, but a hard requirement for operational reliability.
What is it: The ability of equipment to operate without disturbing other equipment (emission) and without being disturbed itself (immunity).
The risk: Unexpected PLC failure, measurement errors, data loss and physical damage to electronics.
The cause: often a combination of modern power electronics (polluters), sensitive controls and infrastructure not designed for high frequencies.
The solution: always start with a baseline measurement and analysis, followed by EMC-correct installation and active filtering if required.
EMC issues come into play in any environment where heavy power electronics and sensitive control electronics come together. We see the most challenges at:
Are you responsible for plant availability? Then understanding EMC is indispensable to proactively prevent problems instead of reactively putting out fires.
Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) is defined as the ability of a device, equipment or system to function satisfactorily in its electromagnetic environment, without itself causing intolerable electromagnetic disturbances to anything in that environment.
It is all about balancing two core concepts:
A practical comparison: Imagine a busy office.
Conducted vs. Radiated
At HyTEPS, we focus mainly on Conducted Emission (conducted faults). These are disturbances that travel through the cables (the power supply), such as harmonics and supraharmonics. There is also Radiated Emission (radiated disturbances), which travel through the air like radio waves. In practice, these often blend together: a poorly mounted cable can start to act as an antenna.
The impact of poor EMC is often underestimated because the problem is invisible until it goes wrong. However, the consequences are concrete:
EMC problems are often difficult to diagnose because the cause (the source) and the effect (the symptom) may be at different locations in the installation. Software faults or faulty hardware are often wrongly thought of, while electromagnetic interference (EMI) is the real culprit.
Common symptoms include:
Nuance: Not every failure is an EMC problem. Wear and tear or software errors can look like EMI. Therefore, measurement is the only way to get certainty.
The increase in EMC problems is directly linked to the energy transition and modernisation of our installations. We use more and more power electronics. These devices are efficient, but switch currents on and off at high frequencies. This distorts the sinusoidal shape of the voltage and current.
Major sources of disturbance (emissions):
In addition, infrastructure plays a major role. An installation can be 'silent' but extremely sensitive (low immunity) due to poor cabling. Think of:
Solving EMC issues requires a layered approach. Simply installing a filter is often not the first step; the basics need to be in order first. We generally apply the following hierarchy when advising our clients:
1. Source Approach and Design
The most effective measure is to prevent failure from occurring or spreading.
2. Filtering and Compensation:
If the design is optimised but emissions remain too high, hardware solutions are needed.
3. Monitoring:
EMC is dynamic. As soon as you install a new machine, the situation changes. Continuous Power Quality monitoring ensures that you see trends before they become failures.
In practice, our engineers often see wrong conclusions being drawn. These are the pitfalls:
Case study: Faults in a production hall
An industrial customer was suffering from random downtime of a packing robot. The technical department replaced the servo motors and cables, but the problem remained.
Do you suspect EMC problems? Follow these steps:
Basic EMC measures you can often take yourself during design and maintenance. However, call in a specialist when:
We analyse your installation with measurements and simulations so that we address the cause in a targeted way. This prevents unplanned downtime.
Deepen your knowledge with these related topics:
Symptoms are often subtle until things go wrong. Look out for unexplained machine failures, flickering lights, cables getting hot or transformers buzzing. Also, if electronics (PLCs, drivers) fail earlier than the service life indicates, chances are that the power quality is insufficient. A Power Quality measurement provides the answer.
This is possible, provided you have a high-quality Power Quality Analyzer (according to IEC 61000-4-30 Class A) and the knowledge to interpret the data. Collecting data is easy; analysing the correlation between events, harmonics and your specific business processes requires specialist engineering knowledge. We are happy to support you in the analysis.
Not by definition. NEN-EN 50160 describes the minimum requirements for voltage at the grid operator's transfer point. However, modern equipment can be more sensitive and malfunction even if the voltage is within this standard. We therefore look beyond the standard: we look at the compatibility between your power supply and your connected load.
Peace of mind, certainty and insight. You get a clear diagnosis of the 'health' of your electrical installation. We pinpoint the cause of faults, enabling you to avoid unplanned downtime and reduce fire risks or unnecessary energy losses. You receive a concrete advisory report with practical points for improvement.
No, that is a misconception. A filter is a powerful tool, but not a panacea. Sometimes the solution lies in changing transformer settings, redistributing loads or adjusting cabling. HyTEPS always recommends a thorough analysis and simulation before we recommend hardware, to avoid unnecessary investments.
Yes, significantly. Solar panel inverters and LED lighting drivers are non-linear loads that cause harmonics and sometimes supraharmonics. This can lead to interference with other equipment or overloading of the neutral conductor. When renovating or preserving, a Power Quality check is essential to ensure operational reliability.
We call this phenomenon 'nuisance tripping'. Often the cause is not the total amount of current, but the distortion of the current (harmonics) or short peak currents that your measuring equipment misses. This contamination can extra heat up thermal protections or confuse electronic protections, causing them to switch off wrongly. A specialised measurement can find out exactly why a protection reacts.
For a reliable picture, we usually measure at least one to two weeks. This is necessary to capture a full duty cycle, including weekends and peak loads. For specific acute failures, we can also take short-term measurements or deploy 'continuous waveform recording' to capture transients.
Your installer is an expert in installation and maintenance (the 'general practitioner'). HyTEPS is the specialist (the 'Power Quality Doctor'). We have advanced measuring equipment, simulation software and in-depth knowledge of theoretical electrical engineering and regulations. We often work together with installers to solve complex puzzles that fall outside standard knowledge.
After the measurement, you receive a report with conclusions in understandable language as well as technical details. If necessary, we simulate the possible solutions in our software. So you know exactly what the effect of a measure will be in advance. We then supervise the implementation and verify the result with a follow-up measurement.
Are you experiencing faults or doubting the quality of your voltage? Don't keep guessing. Speak to an engineer from HyTEPS to discuss your situation or request a Power Quality measurement directly.
HyTEPS
Beemdstraat 3
5653 MA Eindhoven
